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The latest Overwatch event is now live, with the Archives opening up to Storm Rising, an old operation Tracer, Mercy, Genji and Winston undertook in Cuba to take down Doomfist's accountant! We also have significant Hero changes for Junkrat's main gun, Reaper's Shadow Step and a minor change to Symmetra's Teleport, as well as the usual improvements and bug fixes.

We also get previous years' Archives PvE missions, in Uprsing and Retribution, and you can check out a handy FAQ for them all here. And if you missed all the new skin reveals, you can check them all out over at the official Archives page, as well as the three new highlight intros.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

New Seasonal Event: Overwatch Archives 2019 — Storm Rising

Experience a decisive moment in Overwatch’s history during the Overwatch Archives event! Get ready to travel back in time and visit beautiful Havana, Cuba where Overwatch agents are hot on the trail of the notorious businessman and Talon associate Maximilien. Team up with your friends to capture and interrogate Maximilien—whose knowledge could shape the future of Overwatch. Relive the action of previous Archives events, where you’ll fight off hordes of Talon agents while escaping Rialto and stop an Omnic insurrection in King’s Row. You’ll earn Archives Loot Boxes as you play, unlocking cosmetics from Overwatch’s past, including Legendary skins like Deadlock McCree, Scientist Moira, Talon Baptiste, Socialite Ashe, and many more!

HERO UPDATES

Junkrat

Frag Launcher

Projectile speed increased from 20 to 25

Grenades now bounce less but explode sooner

Developer Comments: With this change, we’re looking to slightly increase the range at which Junkrat can land direct hits. The speed of his bombs has increased, but we tuned it so this wouldn’t affect the arc of his projectile. This means that aiming with it will feel the same. The grenades bounce less and explode sooner, which will allow Junkrat to aim them more deliberately. This will reduce the amount of rolling grenade spam when playing against him.

Reaper

Shadow Step

Can now be used in air

Time to exit Shadow Step reduced from 1.0 second to 0.5 of a second

Reaper is now invisible for the entire time it takes to exit shadow step

Railings and other breakable objects no longer block teleporting

Disabled by Zarya’s Graviton Surge and Junkrat’s Steel Trap

Developer Comments: Shadow Step was originally intended to be purely an out-of-combat mobility tool to traverse the map, since Wraith Form was already a great tool for disengaging. However, this made Shadow Step very situational, so we’re increasing its flexibility to make it a better, less niche ability. This will enable Reaper to use Shadow Step in more offensive situations.

Symmetra

Teleporter

Railings and other breakable objects no longer block teleporter placement and teleporting

USER INTERFACE UPDATES

Hero Gallery

You can now set your Victory Pose choice to random

Social

There is now an option to set your profile so only your current group can view it

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that caused the player’s view to become jittery while standing on certain objects

Fixed an issue where the camera would be offset slightly when changing rapidly into third person view

Fixed an issue where players were able to shoot through unintended small gaps on the Ilios, Nepal, and Temple of Anubis maps

Fixed a bug where your view would become level with the horizon after using Symmetra’s Teleporter

Heroes

Ana

Fixed an issue with the steam not rising correctly from Ana’s cup in the Tea Time emote

Fixed a bug where Ana didn’t receive audio or visual cues when a hero she boosted landed a shot

Ashe

Fixed a bug where the Orb of Discord sound effect would play when Bob was affected by Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord

Fixed an issue where Bob wouldn’t consistently stop and damage large objects deployed by heroes, like Junkrat’s RIP-Tire or Orisa’s Supercharger, if he encountered them while running

Baptiste

Fixed a bug where Immortality Field wasn’t immediately destroyed when it is hit by the payload

Bastion

Fixed a bug where Bastion would take damage while in Sentry Mode if it was hit into a wall by Doomfist’s Rocket Punch

Doomfist

Fixed a bug where enemies would not collide with walls while being knocked back by Rocket Punch

Fixed a bug where Seismic Slam wouldn’t break objects that should break

Fixed an issue where Rocket Punch would knock back Orisa even if she was using Fortify

Mei

Fixed a bug where Mei could not be healed by other heroes while using Cryo-Freeze

Mercy

Fixed a bug where Mercy didn’t receive audio or visual cues when a hero she boosted landed a shot

Fixed a bug where Mercy didn’t receive defensive assist credit from healing beams when using Valkyrie

Orisa

Fixed a bug where Orisa would take damage while using Fortify if she was hit into a wall by Doomfist’s Rocket Punch

Reinhardt

Fixed a bug where Reinhardt was unable to raise his shield properly while looking upwards if he had opened his shield while looking downwards

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Today's PTR brings a lot of Hero tweaks and will be a pretty large download when it goes live, as it's a remaster. We're getting changes to D.Va, Orisa, Roadhog, Sigma, Winston, Baptiste, Lucio, Mercy, Moira, Doomfist, Sombra, Symmetra and Tracer, of varying significance.
PTR Patch September 24 (source)
ANNOUNCEMENT
Patch 1.41 is a remaster and will require a relatively large download for all platforms.
HERO UPDATES
D.Va
Defense Matrix
Regeneration rate increased from 12.5% to 16% per second
Delay before regeneration begins lowered from 1 second to 0.75 seconds
Orisa
Protective Barrier
Cooldown increased from 9 to 10 seconds
Roadhog
Scrap Gun
Ammunition increased from 5 to 6.
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
No longer blocks Chain Hook and Whip Shot
Gravitic Flux
High gravity effect duration reduced from 1.2 to 0.9 seconds
Experimental Barrier
Regeneration rate reduced from 175 to 150 per second
Now has a 1 second cooldown after recalling the barrier
Initial 0.2 second cast time removed
Winston
Barrier Projector
Duration increased from 6 to 9 seconds
Health increased from 600 to 700
Baptiste
Immortality Field
Health decreased from 250 to 200
Lucio
Crossfade
Speed boost’s effect increased from 20% to 25%
Amp It Up
Speed boost’s amplification increased from 50% to 60%
Wall Ride
Speed buff reduced from 40% to 30%
Mercy
Valkyrie
The extra beams created by Valkyrie now ignore enemy barriers
Moira
Biotic Grasp
Self-healing reduced from 30 to 20 health per second
Doomfist
Rocket Punch
Time to reach max charge increased from 1 to 1.4 seconds
The Best Defense…
Shield health gained per hit reduced from 35 to 30
Sombra
Translocator
Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds
Cooldown now begins immediately upon deploying the beacon or if it is killed by an enemy
Symmetra
Photon Barrier
Duration reduced from 15 to 12 seconds
Health reduced from 5000 to 4000
Sentry Turret
Damage per second reduced from 50 to 40
Photon Projector
Players impacted by the primary fire beam should now hear a louder impact sound
Tracer
Pulse Pistols
Damage falloff now starts at 13 meters, up from 10 meters
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a player profile issue preventing hero win percentages from being displayed for competitive arcade mode seasons
Heroes
Brigitte
Fixed a bug with Brigitte’s Rally checking line of sight from her feet instead of from her head
Fixed a bug with Inspire’s position being affected by the player’s aim pitch
Doomfist
Fixed a bug that allowed Doomfist to use Meteor Strike before taking impact damage from Sigma’s Gravitic Flux
Sigma
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma’s Gravitic Flux to ignore line of sight through some ceilings
Sombra
Fixed a bug with EMP’s position being affected by player’s aim pitch
Winston
Fixed a bug that caused Winston’s Barrier Projector to not consistently play its destroyed visual effects

Update: You can now also pre-order the game and get a free golden loot box, with a guaranteed legendary inside, as well as Widownmaker's Noire skin.

The Nintendo Switch will be receiving its second Blizzard game soon, as Overwatch will be arriving on the console on October 15th! It will come bundled with 15 skins and 3 months of Nintendo Switch Online membership, which is required to play the game.
October 15th will see the Heroes arrive to Nintendo's console.

We have more Sigma tuning in this edition of the PTR, with a whole lot of bug fixes for the new Hero as well as ones for Reinhardt, Sombra and Wrecking Ball.
PTR July 31 (source)
HERO UPDATES
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
Can now be cancelled by Accretion.
Experimental Barrier
Can now be recalled while Kinetic Grasp or Accretion are in use.
BUG FIXES
General
Placement previews should now be much smoother (Reaper Shadowstep, Mei Ice Wall, etc).
Placement previews will now hold their position after clicking, until they’ve been confirmed by the server.
Fixed a bug where first person animations sometimes wouldn’t play when abilities were used immediately after being frozen.
Fixed a bug where orientation toggles for placements could flicker at higher latencies (Ice Wall, Amplification Matrix, Photon Barrier).
Workshop - ‘Set Max Health’ now functions as intended.
Heroes
Reinhardt
Fixed a bug that caused charge knockback to be applied multiple times.
Sigma
Accretion now correctly deals half damage to self.
Accretion projectile no longer gets destroyed when impacting Symmetra turrets.
Gravitic Flux can now move Pharah during Rocket Barrage.
Fixed a bug where victims of Gravitic Flux could get stuck on slippery rooftops.
Fixed a bug where Gravitic Flux would fail to work on Dropship doors.
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma to avoid an enemy’s Gravitic Flux effect by activating his ultimate.
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma to retain some of his movement ability when he was incapacitated (stunned, slept, etc) during his Gravitic Flux.
Fixed a bug which caused Gravitic Flux to not be cancelled if you switch to another hero while it is active.
Sombra
Fixed a bug where Sombra couldn’t gain ultimate charge for one second after EMP hack auras end on targets.
Wrecking Ball
Fixed a bug that could cause Wrecking Ball to be temporarily stuck when using Piledriver on a slippery terrain.

This particular PTR is getting plenty of updates and fast, as we have a small one today lowering Sigma's Kinetic Grasp cooldown and shield mechanic, nerfing Moira's Fade and fixing some bugs.
July 25 (source)
GENERAL UPDATES
Practice Range
Practice Range has been re-enabled.
HERO UPDATES
Moira
Fade
No longer usable while stunned.
Sigma
Kinetic Grasp
Cooldown reduced from 15 to 13 seconds
Shield per damage conversion increased from 0.33 to 0.40
BUG FIXES
Heroes
Ashe
Fixed a bug where jumping while scoped shooting could cause the gun to clip into the camera slightly.
Wrecking Ball
Fixed a bug where Wrecking Ball could get stuck in his slam animation if landing on very flat slippery surfaces.

We have two back-to-back PTR patches today, the first one featuring Hero 31 arriving for testing, endorsements coming to many alternative modes, Role Queue improvements and some more Workshop additions. The second patch brought several Hero changes, from D.Va's pilot ult cost reduction, to Symmetra's Teleporter cooldown decrease and more!
PTR July 23 (source)
PATCH HIGHLIGHTS
New Hero: Sigma
Sigma is an eccentric astrophysicist and volatile tank who gained the power to control gravity in an orbital experiment gone wrong. Manipulated by Talon and deployed as a living weapon, Sigma’s presence on the battlefield cannot be ignored. Sigma launches two Hyperspheres (gravitic charges), which bounce off walls and implode after a short duration, damaging enemies within a sizable radius. Using Experimental Barrier, he propels a floating barrier to a location of his choosing and he can dismiss the barrier at any time. With Kinetic Grasp Sigma freezes incoming projectiles in midair, converting them into shields. Accretion allows Sigma to gather a mass of debris and flings it at an enemy to knock them down. Unleashing his full powers with Gravitic Flux, Sigma takes flight, lifts enemies in a targeted area, and launches them into the sky before slamming them back down. Learn more about Sigma on his hero page 2.
GENERAL UPDATES
Role Queue
Updated the end of match screen so that players are sorted by role.
Fixed a bug that made it difficult to see which Role Card was in focus when using a controller.
Quick Play (with Role Queue Enabled)
Feature Update: Endorsements
Players can now endorse each other in the following game modes:
Mystery Heroes
No Limits
Deathmatch
Total Mayhem
Low Grav
All the PVE Event game modes (Uprising, Retribution, Storm Rising)
Game Mode
Mystery Heroes - On Control maps, Heroes are now reset between rounds.
Workshop
New Events:
Player Dealt Healing
Player Received Healing
Player Joined Match
Player Left Match
New Actions:
Start Transforming Throttle
Stop Transforming Throttle
New Values:
Healer
Healee
Event Healing
Host Player
Developer Comment: A commonly requested feature for the Workshop is the ability to track healing, so we’ve added two new Event types and three new Values to make this possible. We’ve also added Events to make it easier to detect players joining and leaving matches. To support the creation of admin-style privileges for custom games, the owner of the game can now be detected using Host Player. Finally, we’ve added the ability to scale, invert, and rotate a player’s input throttle to make controlling characters in third person easier.
BUG FIXES
General
Custom Game: The Presets UI in Custom Game is now displayed in the proper order.
Heroes
Brigitte
Fix for Brigitte heal throws that were too loud.
Zenyatta
Fixed a delay in Zenyatta’s first person quick melee animation when interrupting primary fire.
Orisa
Fixed a bug that caused some VFX to stop playing upon successive viewings of Orisa’s “Oh!” highlight intro in Hero Gallery.
Genji
Fixed a bug where Genji could fail to deal damage if he rapidly used Swift Strike on a single target (PTR bug only).
Sombra
Fixed an animation issue with EMP (PTR bug only).

PTR July 24th (source)
GENERAL UPDATES
Practice Range
Practice Range has been temporarily disabled on PTR-only. For players looking to try out Sigma’s abilities in a solo setting, private Custom Games can still be made in the Game Browser.
Role Queue
Fixed a bug that caused the Ready button to be displayed when no roles had been selected, when using a controller.
Fixed a bug that could cause players to be on multiple regional leaderboards at the same time.
Fixed a bug that could cause players to appear on the Top 500 All leaderboard when 1 or more roles are still in placement matches.
Fixed a bug that caused players who allow the "Waiting on you to select role" timer to expire, to get into an unusable state if they were grouped in LFG.
Fixed a bug that prevented players from interacting with the role selection invite using a gamepad if inside the Play menu.
Fixed a bug where queue time wasn’t displayed properly while in skirmish.
HERO UPDATES
D.Va
D.Va Pilot ultimate cost reduced by 12%
Sombra
EMP
(Reworded from previous patch notes for clarity) Activation time increased from 0.2 to 0.35 seconds.
Symmetra
Teleporter
Cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to 12 seconds
Teleport re-use time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1 second
Wrecking Ball
Minefield
Decreased projectile speed from 13 to 12.
BUG FIXES
General
Fixed a bug that prevented Competitive groups being found in LFG
Fix rare instances of ‘avoid as teammate’ not working
Heroes
Sigma
Fixed a bug where Gravitic Flux would do ground impact damage to training bots before they hit the ground.
Fixed a bug that allowed Sigma to fire more than two Hyperspheres at once.
Fixed a bug that cause Sigma’s “Hello” voice line to not play.